


The Trinket box - #1 in Series

by KayCee1951



Series: Magnificent Obsession Series [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Opportunities lost, Story Arc, Story complete
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25287922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayCee1951/pseuds/KayCee1951
Summary: Spock goes shopping in San Francisco for a present intended for his mother's birthday. He leaves with much more.Next in Series: Double Entendre
Series: Magnificent Obsession Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1832005
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter One

**Chapter One:**

_**Earth, San Francisco – 2274** _

On Fishermen’s Wharf, new feeds and holos from FNN, EPC, and GNN flashed on screens in the central pavilion. The news today was primarily devoted to the loss of contact with the SS Artemis but mentioned nothing of the events that had consumed the crew of the Enterprise for the last few months. The incident had been a test of resolve for the crew, her captain, and especially for her first officer.

A sizable number of the crew had dispersed to various parts of the globe for two weeks of R&R, with Montgomery Scott off to do _‘a bit o’ relaxing’_ and _‘a bit o’ pub-crawling’_ in Aberdeen, Uhura at a linguistics symposium on Mars where she had confided to Janice Rand, also included a rendezvous with a certain tall, green and swarthy professor, and Doctor Chapel had traveled home to visit her parents in southern Louisiana after an absence of four years. Pavel Chekov was working on a new navigation project at Star Fleet engineering and Sulu was somewhere in the Himalayas with his three-year-old daughter, Demora.

Since the end of the global warming cycle and climate change in the early part of the last century, many a Summer day in San Francisco brought heavy rain. Today was the exception. The sky was clear and blue without a cloud in sight and the wharf was alive with activity, some at a flurried pace, some at the pace of a sloth. Sentients from every part of the galaxy flocked to the Wharf markets, outdoor cafés, and walking paths. The pets were in abundance as well and ranged from ferocious-looking quadrupeds to tiny hand-held oxygenated insectoids preferred by Zaranites. The silt baths, offered only in San Francisco, were a favorite haunt of the many Denobulan students who were on holiday from the Daystrom Institute in Okinawa. 

Spock had spent the last two point four days at the Vulcan Embassy discussing the pursuit and eventual escape of the rogue Vulcan ship Seleya, and her commander, with a V’Shar agent. Minister Sokol had not been pleased with the outcome, as Spock had been obliged, by his duty as a Starfleet Officer, to withhold certain aspects of the mission even from Vulcan Intelligence.

As he was due to join his captain and Doctor McCoy at the cabin in less than one day, he had only the afternoon to accomplish the other mission on Earth that he could not escape - shopping. Spock’s mission today was to find a birthday present for his mother. 

San Francisco was endowed with an abundance of markets and bazaars of all kinds, with all manner of species offering wares from their various planets. However, he was interested in historical Earth items and presently en route to a shop he had visited twice in the past. On the display ledge behind the glass window of the still aging early twentieth-century building, rested a Royal 10 typewriter, a Mae West hairbrush and hand mirror set with matching Bakelite bangle, a Bakelite wall mirror, a set of calligraphy nibs with a decorative stylus, and several pair of spectacles, all from circa 1930. He was reminded of the shop near the 21st Street Mission in New York that displayed then new items in its hazy window and on its dusty shelves that no one in 1930 could afford to purchase. 

Above the entrance, a painted and repainted, wooden sign read _SCHEHERAZADE HERITAGE SHOPPE_. Preserved as well as could be expected for something that was two hundred years old and constantly exposed to the elements, it swung overhead in the bay breeze on solid iron shutter rings. Spock had asked the proprietor about the name the first time he had visited and was told that it was unknown how the shop got its name, only that it had been handed down from the original ‘owner,’ who had died in the late twenty-first century, with the proviso that the shop must retain its original title. 

Spock was not the only visitor to the shop. A couple was perusing the hard-bound book section that displayed such works as _The Silmarillion_ , _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ , _The Count of Monte Cristo_ , _A Tale of Two Cities_ , and _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_. He lingered on the last only for the moment he could endure for the loss of a sister he could no longer acknowledge.

On this day, he was particularly interested in antique writing accessories, as his mother’s love for handwritten articles was legendary, albeit illogical. He searched for something she did not already possess, he had not already gifted her, or she had acquired on her own. For the years since he had, somewhat, reconciled with his father, it had been a tradition for him to give his mother such a gift on her birthday. V’Ger had taught him to be, if not more broadminded, less restrictive in his interactions with Amanda.

Several years ago, he had given her a set of embossing stamps to enlarge her collection and was considering a set of antique stationery when he spotted something oddly out of place among the rocking blotters, inkwells, quill pens and nibs, pounce boxes, more typewriters, desk clocks, a museum quality English stationery cabinets, and letter openers. He eyed the box with a quizzical tilt of his head and a canted brow. It seemed – familiar. He had seen one very much like it before.

“Ah, I see you have found one of my favorite treasures.” Mr. Entwistle said. The proprietor had approached while Spock had been preoccupied with the book section.

Entwistle lifted the red enameled box, turning it to and fro, the better to exhibit its Art Deco lid. The lid and base were trimmed in brass, as were the hinges and hook latch that secured the lid to the base. The top of the box was inlaid with mother of pearl, faux jade, and abalone that irridesced with a decidedly azure blue hue when turned in the right direction. 

Entwistle extended the box to him. “You see, this item is quite rare. Not many of these boxes survived, not to mention the abalone.”

He noted that this box was made more unusual because of the dominant blue hue in the abalone inlay. The inlay would have been common around the time it was crafted, but the value of it increased after the last global war, so few of the marine snails remained. Abalone became nearly extinct after the last global war due to overfishing, _withering syndrome_ , and global warming.

“You have organized your shop quite logically, Mr. Entwistle. However, this,” he took the box and undulated it again, “appears to be out of place among the writing accouterment.”

Mr. Entwistle billowed with pride at the compliment. “Originally this would have been used as a jewelry box, or trinket box if you will – something for jewelry and hair décor. However, I found that it fit standard envelopes of the time quite nicely. So, I have included it within the writing accessories as a letter keeper.”

Spock left _SCHEHERAZADE_ that day with two vintage rocking blotters and a trinket box.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two:**

_**USS Enterprise – 2275** _

The crew of Enterprise, en route to the laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory platform in the Arachnid Nebula to drop off personnel, were halfway through mid-watch when Spock reached the lab. He sat before the monitor array with the intention of finalizing the collation of data from the micro-fungi the away team had discovered on Gildor VI. With the biophysics study on which he and Doctor Chapel had been collaborating nearing completion, the viability of opening a dialogue with her regarding certain other salient matters was becoming...less opportune.

Of late, he was at odds with himself over his determination to adhere to logical precepts while attempting to create opportunities to enjoy the intimacy that working alongside her afforded. He desired more and she... _Christine_...could no longer be relied upon to provide the impetus. That ship had ‘left the harbor’ five-point five-six years ago when he decided, with a somewhat lesser degree of accuracy, that the purging of all emotion would resolve the inner turmoil with which he had lived his entire life. Living and working on the Enterprise, let alone his escalating bond with her crew, had only served to exacerbate his dilemma.

In spite of her extensive knowledge of his physiological complexity, approaching the delicate, and sacrosanct, subject of his own, unique _biological_ needs was not something that came easily. The day was approaching when he would have to either broach the subject with her or choose a Vulcan mate. The argument that the decision he had made was a logical one had fallen short and he had abandoned the pretense.

~~~~~*~~~~~

_Eight Bells and all is well._

Spock was in the process of preparing the tea when the swish of the lab door signaled Christine’s arrival. During downtime, when the ship was star mapping or on its primary mission of scientific study, their end of mid-watch tea ritual had become more a closely guarded intimacy than simply an innocuous habit they had fallen into.

This morning, he had chosen Bai Hao Yin Zhen, a white tea with a floral scent and a sweet flavor. After he poured, they sipped slowly until their bowls were empty.

“I have completed the data compilation,” Spock began, interrupting the silence. “You should have enough to make your empirical analysis of the fungal spores.”

She nodded without verbal comment. Placing her tea bowl upside down on the tray, Christine sat down in front of the array of holographic monitors that displayed the structure and mass spectrometry of the microbial organisms. Her goal had been to determine if a medical application to Kersan’s Disease was indicted.

Once she had taken the cursory look at the numbers, she turned to him with a somber look that he had come to understand was one of weighty import.

“There is something I have been meaning to discuss with you for several days.”

“Concerning the research?”

“No, not the research.” She looked up from the chair with a demure smile and took a breath. “I have been offered a post on the Ruby G. Bradley as Chief of Endocrinology and I am going to accept. At least, that’s my intention.”

Frozen in place, it took Spock several seconds to recover before he could respond.

“Are Doctor McCoy and Captain Kirk aware of your intention?”

“Not yet. I...wanted to tell you in person before making a formal request for transfer.”

Neither acknowledged the circumstances that had prompted her to give him a heads-up. Sargon of Arret had left them with more than a memory.


	3. Chapter Three

“ _We all have neglected opportunities to deplore.”_

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, _The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes_

**Chapter Three:**

_**USS Enterprise – 2275** _

_“Docking maneuver complete, Captain. Welcome to Starbase Twelve,” t_ he Andorian male voice announced over the comm.

“Well, I guess we’d better get this over with, Mr. Spock,” Jim said as he rose from his chair and pulled down on the front of his tunic.

Spock followed his captain into the turbo lift and requested Deck Five when the doors swooshed closed.

“You _are_ going to see her off, aren’t you? A parting should be _well made_.” *****

Spock stared straight ahead. “I will be at the appointed place, at the appointed time. However...I have something to attend to first.”

“Spock...”

When the turbo lift reached Deck 5, he turned to his friend and assured him, “Jim, I will be there.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

Once inside his cabin, he canceled the auto-illumination. The subtle backlighting of the IDIC symbol that covered the separating wall between office and bed-chamber was sufficient for brooding over what might have been. The others would have said their private farewells by now and he was left with a small window of opportunity to say his.

Behind his desk, he knelt to retrieve the package that had been occupying the space in the recess of the storage compartment for the last six months. The rocking blotters he had purchased for his mother had posted to Amanda immediately.

He had purchased the trinket box for Christine. When tilted in just the right direction, the pearlescent abalone shell reflected the blue of her eyes.

She had said, _“It is time for me to leave.”_ Perhaps she was right. His fate was sealed.

In the one week, two days and seven-point three two hours that had passed since the transfer request had been approved, McCoy’s only personal comment to him had been, _“I know you’ve learned a few things since V’ger. I’m guessing the folly of cutting your nose off to spite your face isn’t one of them.”_

Spock had expected more, deserved more, derision from the good doctor, but it had not come. McCoy had made his case and then had gone silent about it since.

Standing on the threshold of her quarters, he adjusted the package under his arm and, contemplating the excision of his olfactory prominence, understood, for the first time, the concept of being haunted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *“And whether we shall meet again I know not. Therefore our everlasting farewell take: For ever, and for ever, farewell, [trustees]! If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; If not, why then, this parting was well made.” William Shakespeare - Julius Caesar

**Author's Note:**

> *A/N: The Ketteract Incident involving the Vulcan made ship Seleya and her commander, T’Uerell is part of Star Trek (non-canon wiki) Memory Beta but has two references that appear to conflict. One indicates the task force headed by the USS Enterprise and Captain James Kirk was 2274 and another page suggests it was 2272. I chose to use the 2274 reference here.
> 
> All other references were canon-checked with Start Trek Memory Alpha.
> 
> Withering Syndrome affects the digestive organs of abalone.


End file.
